A Southern Albertan woman’s journey surviving breast cancer

Sandra Fuentes lost her hair, suffered second degree burns and underwent a bilateral mastectomy battling breast cancer.

In 2007, only a week before her youngest child of three was born, she was diagnosed with the disease after she felt a lump on her breast.

“When you’re pregnant and nursing things do change with your breasts so it was one of those things, we’re not sure.  Then I did find a lump in my armpit,” she says.

The news was life changing but didn’t necessarily come as a shock to the 32-year-old who had a strong family history of breast cancer.

Only six days after the diagnosis, she had surgery to remove both her breasts, followed by five and a half weeks of chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

“Having the mastectomy was hard.  Even seeing yourself in the mirror, you know, stepping out of the shower that’s hard to do at the beginning because you’re not used to that and it’s not normal, you have scars,” she shares.

Fuentes says she now lives life to the fullest and sees the beauty in small things.

She wrote a book detailing her experiences in hopes to inspire others going through the same battle.

“You surround yourself with positive people and you’ve got to have a sense of humour.  It could be worse and that’s what I had to keep telling myself, things could be worse,” she adds.

October marks Breast Cancer Awareness Month and according to Coordinator at the Canadian Cancer Society, Ben Kwan, the key message is early screening.

“The early screening is one of the most important things because if we detect it early enough, especially for breast cancer, it is very treatable,” he adds.

Fuentes credits early screening to her still being alive today, along with the love and support from her husband, family and friends.

According to the Canadian Cancer Society, one in nine women and roughly 200 men are diagnosed with breast cancer every year.